DUI Charges Dropped After Meticulous Inspection of Videotape

Our client was arrested in Melbourne, Florida and charged with Driving Under the Influence and Refusal to Submit to DUI testing after officers responded to a vehicle stopped in the roadway. Law enforcement claimed our client was the driver, said they saw him get out of the driver's side, pointed to alleged signs of impairment, and built a case around a refusal. From the start, our office approached the case with the objective of dismantling assumptions and verifying the facts. After a meticulous review of the body worn camera footage from the scene, we discovered a confession made in Spanish. After walking away from the scene, with a female law enforcement officer following closely behind our client's girlfriend made a phone call to her mother and admitted that she was the one driving, not our client. This critical statement was never acknowledged nor documented by law enforcement. Our office had the footage professionally transcribed by a certified Spanish transcriber and promptly provided the certified transcript along with the clip of the admission to the assigned prosecutor for review. Faced with clear, contradictory evidence - the State was forced to drop the case.